Pirates Notebook: Intangibles hold back Walker
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Neil Walker is doing pretty much everything well, offensively and defensively, toward earning a promotion to the Pirates, but he apparently has more to prove to management off the field.
Walker has had issues with a lack of hustle and failing to heed instruction at Class AAA Indianapolis, general manager Neal Huntington said in an interview Sunday, and that was one reason why Steve Pearce was promoted rather than Walker when a position player was needed last week and both had exemplary numbers.
"We had a decision to make, who to bring up, and it should have been a very, very difficult choice because both guys were doing everything they needed in terms of productivity and performance," Huntington said. "Where it became easier was with the intangibles. They're both great people, but we're holding our organization to a certain standard. We play the game hard. We play the game the right way."
Walker, the 24-year-old 2005 first-round draft pick out of Pine-Richland High School, is batting .330 with five home runs -- the fifth came Sunday -- and 23 RBIs, all while adding second base and the corner outfield spots to his standard third base.
Frank Kremblas, Indianapolis' manager, and Kyle Stark, the Pirates' director of player development, are firm disciplinarians, which is part of the equation. The other, according to the team, is that Walker, in addition to failing to run out a popup last week, has generally reacted poorly when disciplined.
"We're not isolating Neil," Huntington said. "We're challenging a lot of guys, and there are challenges like that across baseball in systems that do it the right way. If you want to coddle and pamper your athletes, then you won't have any issues. But you'll also have underachieving athletes."
Outfielder Ryan Church was held out of the lineup this weekend because of a bruised right wrist sustained when hit by a pitch in his final at-bat Friday.
X-rays showed no fracture.
He was able to hit off a tee this morning and might be cleared for a batting practice in the next couple of days.
Before the weekend, Church had started seven games in a row and had homered twice in the final four of those.
First Published May 10, 2010 12:00 am
